'Discovering' wargaming history (3*) HG Wells and Kriegsspiel

HG Wells' Little Wars is likely better known to most wargamers, in both name and content, than von Reisswitz's Kriegsspiel. Perhaps as it was written by an excellent author and visionary thinker who wrote so many books that remain renowned favourites to this day; the spawning of the entire genre of science fiction, but one of his legacies. Likely too, since the book is squarely about a game, a pass-time "for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girls who like boys' games and books". The fact that he was English and so wrote in that language may also be part of the reason for this, certainly amongst wargamers in English-speaking countries.

I have no intention of describing nor analysing Little Wars. This has been done by people with a far greater understanding and better perspective than I. For example, Mark, 'Man of Tin' has a marvellous blog that includes numerous posts about Little Wars, the origin of the work and of the people whom Wells describes. This post on his blog contains links to many of them. There is also a proboards discussion group here. I have also included a link to his two blogs below. 

What though, were Wells' impressions of Kriegsspiel?

We do not need to guess the answer to this for Wells wrote an appendix to Little Wars entitled 'Little Wars and Kriegspiel'. As with the rest of his book, the appendix is a great read. Wells begins with a pretty damning assessment of Kriegsspiel. He says that his book has lead to correspondence with 'military people' who "...tell me—what I already a little suspected—that Kriegspiel, as it is played by the British Army, is a very dull and unsatisfactory exercise, lacking in realism, in stir and the unexpected, obsessed by the umpire at every turn, and of very doubtful value in waking up the imagination, which should be its chief function" (p. 101). Far from rejecting it completely, we are treated to something quite special. Wells presents the shell of a set of rules to combine Kriegsspiel and Little Wars, based on "...advice and information in this matter" from a Colonel Mark Sykes. In short, he translated Kriegsspiel into a wargame with modelled terrain and figures.

He makes suggestions for incorporating 'modern' arms into Little Wars, to translate the Kriegsspiel map into 'country' and to include toy soldiers. In this last aspect, he states, "The toy soldiers used in this Kriegspiel should not be the large soldiers used in Little Wars. The British manufacturers who turn out these also make a smaller, cheaper type of man—the infantry about an inch high—which is better adapted to Kriegspiel purposes" (p. 110). There are rules for moves, supply, cavalry charging, for 'destructions' and 'constructions' (military engineering) and the use of toy trains for large movements of troops. Not an advocate of dice, Wells states that "Whenever possible, death should be by actual gun- and rifle-fire and not by computation" (p. 110). He also seeks to remove or at least to reduce the impact of the umpire so that the game works and the umpire's decisions are kept to a minimum. He does though, see the need for an official on either side since:

"This is a game like real war, played against time, and played under circumstances of considerable excitement, and it is remarkable how elastic the measurements of quite honest and honourable men can become" (p. 110–111).

We have all experienced this and perhaps even been guilty ourselves of 'generous' interpretations!

In the final chapter of Little Wars, HG Wells presented 'a sort of challenge' in which he advocated for the use of his little wars in place of Great War as "Great War is at present, I am convinced, not only the most expensive game in the universe, but it is a game out of all proportion. Not only are the masses of men and material and suffering and inconvenience too monstrously big for reason, but—the available heads we have for it, are too small. That, I think, is the most pacific realisation conceivable, and Little War brings you to it as nothing else but Great War can do" (p. 100). Wells continued this aim in suggesting a combination of Little Wars and Kriegsspiel, "We believe that the nearer that Kriegspiel approaches to an actual small model of war, not only in its appearance but in its emotional and intellectual tests, the better it will serve its purpose of trial and education" (p. 111). The edifying nature of the hobby coupled with its bloodlessness and reincarnation of all of the miniature participants after each action, no matter how 'bloody', remains a great part of the appeal of wargaming.

*The other posts in this 'series' can be found on my other blog; should you be interested.

References

Mark, Man of Tin (blogs). Man of Tin and Pound Store Plastic Warriors.

B. von Reisswitz,  B (1824) Kriegsspiel. Available to purchase as ''Kriegsspiel 1824' as a pdf from TooFatLardies.

Wells, HG (1913) Little wars : a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girls who like boys' games and books. London : Frank Palmer. Available on archive.org.

Wells, HG (1912) Floor Games; a companion volume to "Little Wars". First Published 1911. Small, Maynard and Company, Boston. 94 pp. Available on archive.org.